Abstract

Maintenance of thermal homeostasis within a tight range is regulated not only by a variety of internal and external cues but also by sex and biological age. The major organ responsible for adaptive thermogenesis is brown adipose tissue (BAT) and the recent re-discovery of its presence in adult humans has led to huge interest in the role that it may play in modulating cardiometabolic health. Interestingly, as with maintenance of thermal homeostasis, the total amount and metabolic activity of BAT is modulated by sex and biological age. In this short commentary we discuss the recent finding that core-body temperature is reduced in women post-menopause, a period when excess adiposity and increased risk of cardiometabolic disease is evident and postulate that alterations in sex hormones downregulated the thermogenic activity of BAT cold contribute to this deleterious phenotype.

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Cardiovascular Endocrinology December 2016. Volume 5. Issue 4, p. 155–156
available at
https://doi.org/10.1097/XCE.0000000000000089

Schools/Departments:

University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Medicine > Division of Child Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology